I saw this quote in a post from a blog I read:
From Theodore Roosevelt (quoted in Built to Last):
And I read Nehemiah 6 this morning where the wall was rebuilt in 52 days even in spite of many internal enemies (the Jewish nobles were aligned with Tobiah the Ammonite through marriages of their children) and many external enemies (Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem to name a few). God strengthened the hands of Nehemiah and the others to complete the task because it was God’s will that it be rebuilt. The surrounding people were afraid as a result.
And then I asked myself this question:
What might God be calling me to undertake that might have both internal and external opposition?
(A word of caution…the Jewish nobles in this account had made evil alliances with God’s enemies…they weren’t the faithful in Israel…so if faithful brothers and sisters oppose you, don’t assume you’re having a Nehemiah moment…you might be having a David-being-confronted-by-the-prophet-Nathan moment! Let Scripture be your guide!)